Myxomatosis - a personal view

Authors: Jopp AJ
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 34, Issue 4, pp 52-54, Apr 1986
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: General, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep, Wildlife
Subject Terms: Animal welfare, Biosecurity, Legal/regulation, Viral, Pest/pesticides, Disease/defect, Infectious disease
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: The following is a summary of the main points which I made in my address at the recent NZVA Wildlife Society Seminar. During four years as a rural veterinarian in Central Otago I saw farmers becoming increasingly concerned over apparent increases in rabbit numbers. I dismissed this, together with demands for myxomatosis to be introduced, as extreme and unwarranted. However, it has only been in the last two years since I have made a rare effort to get beyond the cattle yards that I have begun to understand the extent and nature of the problem. So, to those who consider themselves to be objective on this issue, an extended trip into the South Island high country is an essential prerequisite before coming to terms with the background to the myxomatosis debate. The proponsents of the introduction of the disease into New Zealand see it as a straight forward conservation issue i.e. do we wish to preserve the land in reasonable condition for successive generations, or do we allow it to degenerate under our care? 1 see the issue of myxomatosis to be primarily a land conservation problem which is one step “down the line” from animal welfare considerations. However…

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